Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 2, 1994                   TAG: 9402020087
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

ROANOKE OFFICIALS SET RETREAT 2 NIGHTS AT LODGE TO COST $600

City Manager Bob Herbert and high-level staff members will have a two-day retreat at the Doe Run Lodge on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Hillsville.

The city will spend $600 for lodging for the two nights. Three or four officials will share rooms to save costs.

The cost of meals also will be paid with tax funds.

City officials decided to hold the retreat at the Doe Run Lodge so they would be far enough away to escape the daily demands of their jobs, but close enough that they could return rapidly if needed.

Herbert said Tuesday that this will be the third such retreat for the staff since he became city manager in 1985.

Changes in the city's top staff in the past year include the hiring of a new finance director, assistant city manager and director of human development.

Herbert said the retreat's focus will be on developing a teamwork approach to issues, including new federal and state mandates.

"This is not a visioning process, but it focuses on key issues in the next three or four years," he said.

Bob Matson, professor at the Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia, will be a facilitator for the retreat.

Among those attending will be the assistant city manager, four directors, personnel manager, budget manager, members of the economic development office, city attorney and finance director.

Several years ago, City Council held a retreat on strategic planning at Mountain Lake. But council's recent retreats have been at Roanoke College and other sites in the city.